Connecticut town to burn violent video games in wake of Sandy Hook tragedy

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Published time: January 04, 2013 16:30
Edited time: January 04, 2013 20:34

Stuffed bears are seen in the snow as part of a makeshift memorial at Edmond Town Hall in Newtown, approximately three weeks after a gunman shot dead 20 students and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary, in Newtown, Connecticut, January 2, 2013. (Reuters / Carlo Allegri)

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Arms, Children, Crime, USA, Violence

A Connecticut community is urging people to turn in violent video games to be destroyed. The move was prompted by the December 14 mass shooting at nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School, during which 20 children and six educators were killed.

A collection drive will take place on January 12 in the town of Southington, Connecticut, a 30-minute drive from the scene of the massacre in Newtown.

Violent video games, CDs, and DVDs will be placed in a dumpster and later burned by town employees.

The event was was organized by Southington SOS, a coalition of local groups.

"As people arrive in their cars to turn in their games of violence, they will be offered a gift certificate donated by a member of the Greater Southington Chamber of Commerce as a token of appreciation for their action of responsible citizenship," the group said in a statement.

In a press release, Southington SOS said its actions should not be “construed as statement declaring that violent videogames were the cause of the shocking violence in Newtown on December 14," but that violent video games and films desensitize children to “acts of violence.”

However, experts have said there is absolutely no link between violent video games and violent behavior.

A study by Texas A&M University found that exposure to violent games “had neither short-term nor long-term predictive influences on either positive or negative outcomes.”

“There is no good evidence that video games or other media contributes, even in a small way, to mass homicides or any other violence among youth,” report author Christopher J. Ferguson wrote in Time magazine.

A sign welcoming children from Sandy Hook Elementry school sits on the road in Monroe, Connecticut on January 3, 2013. (AFP Photo / Timothy A. Clary)

Other nearby communities have expressed sympathy for the grieving community. Danbury, the large town nearest to Newtown, canceled a gun show scheduled to take place this weekend after organizers received a number of complaints. The show was permanently cancelled rather than postponed, the Guardian reported.

Students of Sandy Hook elementary returned to class for the first time on Thursday, at a former middle school in the nearby town of Monroe.

Teams of workers, including many volunteers, renovated the school, even raising the bathroom floors so that smaller elementary students can reach the toilets.

Workers tried their best to replicate Sandy Hook elementary, painting classroom walls the same colors and hanging the same pictures. Backpacks and other belongings left behind after the shooting were also taken to the new school to help the children feel at home.

Sandy Hook elementary is being treated as a crime scene, and it remains unclear whether it will ever reopen.

Comments (22)

elizabeth (unregistered) 07.01.2013 20:18

What happen in Connecticut is very sad but burning video games will not stop future attacks nor will it make amends for what has happened. We are a country who thrive to go and over power others. We have a military base in almost every country. If our govt says we need to go to war, we ask no questions and quickly send our family troop members into a war without asking why. Our country was founded by war with natives, enslavement, and continue to this day to rage war against anyone who doesn't obide by our ways. This kind of hate will continue until we as a whole say otherwise. Video games are only a small percentage of bad influences. The most damage you will do is to the the video game makers and it will be a small dent indeed. You wanna make a change, start talking to parents about how they raise their kids, not control them and how they do it, but influence by showing how small differences can make big ones in the end.

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John K (unregistered) 07.01.2013 06:34

For the love of. Violent video games had nothing to do with it. These people make me sick. I've been playing violent games since i was a little one and am a peaceful person unless i am protecting someone. Burning violent video games doesn't get to the core issue at all and only scapegoats the parents who aren't taking an interest in what their children are doing, not getting kids the help they need, and letting abuse by other people and things go on. If you want to break it down, violent games don't make someone violent unless there are violent tendencies and they have a psychotic break.
Mass murderers and serial killers were around long before video games. Video games just happen to be the new scapegoat just like musics, television, and comics has been in the past. Can we please stop and put the blame were it belongs before more tragedies like this happens. I want to actually get these people help not push the blame where it doesn't belong. I see so many just push the blame out and it won't do anything. This was a revenge thing, the mother took her mentally unstable child to a shooting range to "bond" with him and then when she couldn't handle him was looking at having him institutionalized.
If she had done the responsible thing and actually sought help for him in the first place this would of been avoided. And how about looking into their home life more? Something weird was going on there if the brother and uncle both live close but haven't visited in a long while

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Rubin Schmidt (unregistered) 07.01.2013 01:37

Has anybody seen the interview Robbie Parker did for Cnn's "the Situation Room".He's laughing and joking with the"media" crew, then puts himself "in character" for the actual interview. The other thing that bothers me is, in the interview with Dr.H.Wayne Carver the Ch.Med. Examiner, not even he could confuse a 9mm case with a .223. If the rifle is in the car and the shooter is found with a SIG and Glock, and the floor is covered with .223 cases, there is something to be talked about other than guns. Evidence collected nearer the time of the incident, is more credible than synconised notes long after the event. I wish somebody would look at "programmed to kill/Satanic cover-up Part 68" .and let me know what you think.!!!

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